Free entry to Italian state museums extended

Major news for non-EU families visiting Italy this summer: if you are museum hounds, the Italian government has just saved you a packet.

Until now, free museum and cultural site admission for under 18s only applied to EU citizens—bad luck if you were visiting from the USA, the Far East, or Australasia. A ministerial decree has changed all that:

The restriction of offering free entry only to minors from the EU is… not worthy of a country that values integration between peoples and sees its cultural heritage as one of its major resources. [It was] a rule that also undermines the principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

(My translation.)

The decree is yet to be formally ratified, but comes into effect immediately.

Not all public museums in Italy are “state museums”. Many are owned by local authorities (civic museums, or musei civici), or are private- or church-owned entities. However, high-profile state museums include Florence’s Uffizi Gallery and Accademia, the National Archeological Museum in Naples, Rome’s Colosseum and Baths of Caracalla, and several other visitor favourites. There’s a list on Wikipedia.

Museum websites, such as the one for the Uffizi, have not yet been updated to show the new pricing structure. However, savings for a family with two children under 18 could amount to upwards of 15€ per museum visited.

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